A collection of podcasts exploring the culture in pop culture. Our shows range from the general (flagship show The Chronic Rift) to the specific (The Batcave Podcast). We look at literature (Dead Kitchen Radio), movies (The Weekly Podioplex), family (Generations Geek), gaming (The Cardboard Jungle), and more.

Our long delayed look at the various incarnations of the Doctors on Doctor Who continues with a discussion of the Peter Davison era. Having some great shoes to fill, Davison had his work cut out for him, but he managed nicely in the three years he played the role. John is joined by Keith DeCandido and Krissy Myers to discuss the companions, the Doctor's story arc through the three years culminating in "Caves of Androzani", the Fifth Doctor as a bridge between the old and new series, and of course, episodes to watch out for. We even remembered to talk about The Master. Well, Keith and Krissy did.

We finally pick up our look at each of the actors to play the role of the Doctor on the long running British series, Doctor Who. This time around, we're looking at the seven year run of Tom Baker. We're talking his early years, his companions, his reluctance to be involved in Whodom for so many years and then his explosion in audio and on TV. It's all here, hosted by Keith DeCandido with John S. Drew sitting in as guest joined by Gary Mitchel of the Revcast and the American Sci-Fi Classics Track at DragonCon. Get your jelly babies ready as we set the TARDIS controls to the 70s and discuss Tom Baker!

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The last of Krissy Myers recordings of Doctor Who actors and directors features actor Dan Starkey of the new series. He discusses being a Sontaran and the possibility of a spinoff series for his character.

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The first Spotlight episode of the new year sees John sitting down with author/actor Nick Cole. Nick is heading up a collaborative literary effort called Apocalypse Weird. He joins John to talk the writing process and how the reader can help in developing this shared world experience.

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Nick Cole is a working actor living in Southern California. When he is not auditioning for commercials, going out for sitcoms or being shot, kicked, stabbed or beaten by the students of various film schools for their projects, he can often be found as a guard for King Phillip the Second of Spain in the Opera Don Carlo at Los Angeles Opera or some similar role. Nick Cole has been writing for most of his life and acting in Hollywood after serving in the U.S. Army.

Krissy Myers returns to host this Spotlight episode with Diane Shreve about the Kickstarter campaign for Nosferatu Remixed. This ambitious project takes footage from the classic silent film and mixing it with a modern take starring Doug Jones as the title character. The campaign is in its final hours and they are only a few thousand away from their goal. Listen to this interview and see how you can help with the campaign. Fans of the legendary movie will appreciate the effort being made to bring this classic into the 21st century.

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Diane Shreve is a full-time student at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus. She majors in the field of Graphic Information Technology, and is currently maintaining a 4.0 GPA while being ranked in the top five percent of her class. Ms. Shreve has always excelled in academics, as she graduated number one in her class from her high school, has received the Kiwanis International Award for leadership skills, and has been selected to join and has become a member of honor societies such as the Golden Key International Honor Society, the National Society Of Collegiate Scholars, and Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society. She is also a member of her campus’s Graphic Information Technology Club.

Diane Shreve has been very much interested in graphic arts and design for a number of years. She has been working with websites, design, and computer graphics for eight years and has been working as a freelance professional web designer for a number of those years. She is proficient with current design tools such as Adobe’s Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4, Fireworks CS4, and has basic working knowledge of Flash CS4. Diane has created print and online material for M&T Fabrications (a metal fabrications company), has worked with painter and photographer J.R. Pepper for promotion and online material, has done advertising and web work for comedian Greg Proops, and has designed and maintained all of the web material for the online radio show Outlaw Radio.

Ms. Shreve also has a background in marketing and sales and has done work for Vector Marketing with the Cutco industry, as well as worked as a telemarketer and sales consultant for State Farm.

Krissy Myers returns to host this Spotlight episode where she had the opportunity to sit in on a chat with British television director Graeme Harper. While best known for his work on the Doctor Who series, Harper is known for a number of other British television shows which he talks about in this episode.

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Graeme Harper was originally a child actor, appearing in adaptations of "The Silver Sword" and "The Pickwick Papers" amongst other productions, before becoming a floor assistant at the BBC in 1965 and then an assistant floor manager in 1969. He worked on the Doctor Who adventures "Colony in Space," "Planet of the Daleks," "Planet of the Daleks" and "Planet of the Spiders" during the Jon Pertwee years, and "The Seeds of Doom" and "Warriors' Gate" in the Tom Baker era. In 1980 Harper started on the BBC's director's course. "The Caves of Androzani" was the first job he got as a freelance director after working on "Angels" for Julia Smith. Harper went on to direct one further Doctor Who story, "Revelations of the Daleks," and was also to have directed the third story in the abandoned season twenty-three which would have been either Philip Martin's "Mission to Magnus" or Robert Holmes's "Yellow Fever and How to Cure It." Harper went on to work on shows such as "District Nurse," "Hope and Glory," "Star Cops," "Boon," "The House of Windsor," "The Bill," "The House of Elliot" and "september Song" and is one of the industry's most sought after directors. In 1993 he was scheduled to direct "The Dark Dimension," an ultimately un-made thirtieth anniversary Doctor Who story.

Michael Falkner takes control of the spotlight as he interviews author Lauren Orbison about her first children's book, Tortellini.

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Lauren Orbison is an independent author residing in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her husband and four ridiculous cats. She is missing a small portion of her 22nd chromosome and offers a $50 reward if you find it. Her mutant superpowers include befriending dragons, writing down her observations, and talking until people's ears fall off. Tortellini is her first published book, though she plans to have more out shortly.

Theo Solorio has been drawing dragons since she was 3 years of age and still loves to draw them to this day. Besides drawing all the time, her other hobbies include listening to 70's and 80's tunes on cassette tape, watching classic Disney movies on VHS, and doing a little 2D animation.

She resides in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, and she dresses up as a dragon to avoid scaring the locals. Yep. She's an old-fashioned little green dragon.

Krissy Myers returns with a new Spotlight episode, talking with former BBC Radiophonic Workshop sound effects wizard, Dick Mills. The two talk about his time on Doctor Who as well as other projects he was involved in. Special thanks to Mister Mills for taking the time to sit with Krissy.

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Dick Mills (born 1936) is a British sound engineer, specialising in electronic sound effects which he produced at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop.

Mills was one of the original staff at the Radiophonic Workshop, joining in 1958 as a technical assistant. At first he was employed to handle the hardware of the Workshop but soon found himself recording effects. Some of his earliest, uncredited sound work was on the 1958 BBC science-fiction serial Quatermass and the Pit. Another of his prominent early recordings was the "Major Bloodnok's Stomach" sound effect, a significant part of the popular The Goon Show.

Although he recorded much in those early years, it is his later work on Doctor Who for which he most remembered. In 1972, he took over from fellow BBC Radiophonic Workshop sound effects producer Brian Hodgson, whom he had sometimes previously assisted, and continued providing "special sound" for every episode of the programme, with the exception of two four-part stories, until it ended in 1989. He also provided special sound for the Doctor Who spin-off K-9 and Company. As such, he has the distinction of having more on-screen credits than anyone else in the history of the series. Owing to his technical know-how, he managed to bring to the position new methods of recording sound effects quicker than before. Besides his sound effects on Doctor Who, he also produced and compiled the first of the programme's music compilations, Doctor Who - The Music and Doctor Who - The Music II. Over the years, many of his own sound effects have also appeared on various compilations.

Other sound effects he provided included material for the cult series Moonbase 3, produced in 1973 by then-Doctor Who producer Barry Letts, and also occasionally sounds for The Two Ronnies.

Mills' work was acknowledged in a Doctor Who documentary broadcast on The Lively Arts in 1977. The same year, he appeared on the BBC's children's magazine programme Blue Peter to demonstrate how some of the Doctor Who effects were realised and how children could make their own sound effects at home. He also appeared in the 2004 BBC Radiophonic Workshop BBC Four documentary Alchemists of Sound.

He is also the author of many books on aquaria and tropical fish, as well as a former editor of The Aquarist and Pondkeeper magazine and a member of the Federation of British Aquatic Societies Council.

The Chronic Rift rumbles back to life with an interview with one of the masters of undead storytelling - Jay Smith. Jay talks with John about the release of the novel based on his Parsec Award nominated audio work, The Diary of Jill Woodbine. He talks about what went into making the novel, the development of it as a Kindle work for Amazon and his reasons for making it available now. Take a listen to the podcast and then head on over to Amazon and get your copy today.

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Jay Smith is the creator and executive producer for the Parsec Award-winning audio drama series HG World. Since 2009, Jay and his company of players and producers have been telling the story of survivors in the middle of a global zombie uprising. Now in its third season, this "satellite" production has featured dozens of actors across four continents making it a production truly on a global scale. Since its debut, episodes of HG World and its spin-off series, the Parsec finalist The Diary of Jill Woodbine and The Googies have been downloaded close to a million times.

Inspired by the golden age of radio, Hidden Harbor Mysteries presents a story inspired by stylish pulp era radio adventures like The Shadow, Sam Spade, The Green Hornet, and I Love a Mystery. Performed by a stellar cast, Hidden Harbor hopes to integrate classic radio storytelling with some modern twists. Jay draws from the work of Orson Welles, Arch Obelor and looks to modern audio dramatists like Douglas Adams and Dirk Maggs as inspiration to create a rich, realistic world of survival horror laced with dark comedy and compelling human drama.

Jay holds a BA in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University and is working on his Master of Fine Arts from Seton Hill University’s innovative Writing Popular Fiction program. He attends and speaks at various science fiction and literary conventions about podcasting, writing, audio drama, and zombies. HG World can be heard by subscribing through iTunes or visiting the show web site www.goodmorningsurvivors.com

Keith gets the opportunity to sit on the other side of the Chronic Rift table as a guest. His latest Star Trek work, The Klingon Art of War has just been released and he sits with John to discuss the development and writing of the book. Take a listen as Keith explains all including what is happening with his Dragon Precinct series on a new Spotlight episode.

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International best-selling author Keith R.A. DeCandido was born, raised, educated, and still lives in the Bronx. His Mom and Dad fed him a steady diet of Robert A. Heinlein, Ursula K. Le Guin, J.R.R. Tolkien, and P.G. Wodehouse, which corrupted him for life -- not only instilling in him a great love of science fiction, fantasy, and silly British humor, but also likely being responsible for his pretentious insistence on using both his middle initials all the time.

Keith has published over thirty novels, most of them in the realm of media tie-ins. The majority of his work has appeared in the worlds of Star Trek: Keith has written novels, novellas, comic books, short stories, and eBooks, and also edited several anthologies that cover all five TV shows as well as several prose-only series -- one of which, the Corps of Engineers eBook series, he co-developed. Several of his Trek novels have hit the USA Today best-seller list, and received critical acclaim from all over the map, both online and in print. Keith edited the monthly Star Trek eBook line from 2001 until the line came to an end in 2008.

He has also written in the worlds of Blizzard Games, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Command and Conquer, CSI, Doctor Who, Farscape, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, Marvel Comics, Supernatural, Young Hercules, and many more.

In 2004, Dragon Precinct, Keith's first non-tie-in novel, was published. It's a police procedural in a standard elves/dwarves/magic fantasy setting -- picture Law & Order meets Lord of the Rings. Stories in the same setting have appeared in the anthologies Murder by Magic, Hear Them Roar, Bad-Ass Faeries, and Pandora's Closet.

Keith's editorial career started in college -- serving on Fordham University's award-winning alternative newspaper, called, simply, the paper -- and includes a stint at Library Journal magazine and five years as an editor for the late Byron Preiss and his various companies (Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Byron Preiss Multimedia, BP Books, and ibooks inc.). Among his accomplishments in the latter job were editing a highly successful line of novels based on Marvel Comics's super heroes and helping bring Alfred Bester back into print.

From 1998-2006, Keith owned and operated the company Albé-Shiloh Inc., a provider of writing and editing services. ASI's most visible project was the Nebula Award-nominated anthology of original novelettes called Imaginings: An Anthology of Long Short Fiction. Keith has edited over a dozen anthologies since 1995, from the acclaimed OtherWere: Stories of Transformation in 1996 to the Star Trek anthologies Tales of the Dominion War and Tales from the Captain's Table in 2004-2005 to Doctor Who: Short Trips: The Quality of Leadership in 2008.

For four glorious years, Keith worked on The Chronic Rift, a New York City public access talk show on SF, fantasy, comics, gaming, and other genre issues. Working with his best friend, Executive Producer and Director John S. Drew, Keith was cohost and Producer of the Rift, doing 100 half-hour episodes that aired in New York from 1990-1994.

Keith is a professional musician, currently the percussionist for the parody band the Boogie Knights. He's played on five CDs. From 1996-2000, he was with the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players, and besides his gigs with the Knights, he has been occasionally active in New York City clubs, backing up the Randy Bandits, Steve Rosenhaus, and the late David Honigsberg.

Besides all this, Keith is a student of Kenshikai karate (a brown belt, as of February 2008), and an amateur actor and voiceover actor (you can hear his work on some of the audio dramas produced and directed by his erstwhile Chronic Rift cohort John S. Drew).